So what, then, can we expect from Blueside's official sequel? They said in a press release a few weeks back that it would be an MMOARTS, meaning massively multiplayer online action real time strategy game. We decided to ask what that actually meant.

IGN: What was the reasoning behind the decision to depart from the RTS and dungeon crawler genres of the previous games and opt for a MMOARTS?

SangYoun Lee: Kingdom Under Fire 2 ("KUF2" hereinafter) as introduced in our first announcement is a sequel that truly inherits Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders.

First, our goal was to make a perfection of action Real-time Strategy genre that once we tried to achieve in KUFTC. And I've always believed that the key essence of RTS games is to enjoy completing it with other people online. Blending these two principals gave a birth to the new Kingdom Under Fire and ended up being called a MMOARTS game, which stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Action RTS, with a virtual world where gamers can live in, form a massive army then declare a war against other groups of gamers rather than go for a quick in-and-out RTS match.

Even though KUF2 will be based on an MMO system which can hold a massive population and players can interact with each other, its general game system will purely reflect the traditional RTS that you know. Instead of you become a commander or foot-soldier wandering around in a map to hunt monsters like in RPGs, in KUF2 you will experience revolutionary enhanced RTS battles that not only allow you to tactically command your troops, but also urge you to protect your territories, castles, keeps and etc. in both first and third perspective. With in-game supplies to grow your hero, army and territory, there shall be unlimited tactics and strategies that you can come up with.

Reviving the medieval ages, thousands of gamers can co-join in war, choose their side, trade with each other, expand and cultivate their territory, then go out to the battlefield to match with other gamers in 1 vs. 1, 2 vs. 2, or 3 vs. 3 over possession or protection of territories.

IGN: Will we see characters from the previous games in the game (Regnier/Rick Miner, Celine, Curian, Lilani, Leinhardt, etc.)?

SangYoun Lee: Some of them will make their return, but more heroes will be newly introduced with unique look and strength for each. We will reveal more information around them down the road.

IGN: Were the characters in Circle of Doom in a dream state (or sleeping in Encablossa) throughout the game?

SangYoun Lee: Circle of Doom was all about heroes being caught inside of Encablossa's dimension and their attempts to escape from it. Luckily some of heroes did manage themselves to get out from this doom world and when they returned to real world, 150 years passed although they'd only stayed in Encablossa's dimension for a short period. The new story of Kingdom Under Fire starts from that point then resumes the saga of Kingdom Under Fire universe.

IGN: Similar story elements from Kingdom Under Fire are shared with 99 Nights; are there plans for a cross-over down the road?

SangYoun Lee: Yes. A cross-over between heroes and events has always been our method to develop storyline from the start. It's just that it will get much deeper and more complicated in KUF2 with introduction of several new heroes.

IGN: What lies in store for Bersia down the road? Is there perhaps a new continent to explore or being planned?

SangYoun Lee: I will leave this for fans to find out º.

IGN: What is the new faction?

SangYoun Lee: They are called Encablossians. As Regnier returned from Encablossa's dimension, he brought a massive Encablossian army consist of mutants to destroy and take control over the Age of Light.

IGN: Would you mind describing how the MMO component of the game actually works? How does the MMO fit into the storyline of Kingdom Under Fire? Is there going to be a fee associated with playing online?

SangYoun Lee: As mentioned above, the MMO part occurs on the world map by players who participated in war. The story can be found and followed in single campaign mode – not on the battlefield of MMO scale. It is very similar to the single player mode of KUFTC if you can recall.

With fundamental idea that Human Alliance, Dark Legion, and Encablossa have a goal to conquer the Bersia continent, the players choose to be one of the factions and will be involved in conquering other lands and expanding the kingdom of their own. All of three factions are constantly engaged in battles and wars against one another, and it'll end when a faction gets all the lands of the continent. We consider this point as the end of season 1. After that, with updated contents such as a new continent and more, a new season commences.

These are the very basics of what you can expect to see in war-server, main features of KUF2's MMO component. As players experience more battles, they can build up their own troops and eventually form an army of divisions. Plus, they can do many other things such as fighting against NPCs, cultivations, founding guild – and a giant guild of many guilds, and becoming a lord by conquering other guilds and their lands.

Single campaign mode can be played freely at any time separately from multiplayer mode. The stories from single player mode would not affect the process of wars in MMO world. Of course, there is no affection from MMO wars to single player mode, either. However, for the players that accomplished certain goals from single player mode, we do have a plan to give them some rewards such as something can be shown or used in MMO war field.

Of course, the MMO play will cost money. It is still under consideration whether it'll be a monthly subscription or item selling but whichever case it may be, we will ensure it's worth to paying for.

IGN: Can you give us more detail on the castle siege system?

SangYoun Lee: Players are able to set up a battle to take a castle while there are battles in fields. There is a huge castle and one side fights to defend and other side for taking it over.

The battle for taking and protecting a castle will be extremely realistic with a massive scale that you saw in movies like The Lord of the Rings and Kingdom of Heaven. The actions will involve many of troops rushing towards the gates, struggling to climb ladders, with siege towers carrying troops over the walls and fighting on castle walls, attempting to destroy the main gate with siege ram, attacking both units and walls with catapults, and the defenders fixing and protecting gates, trying to push back enemies climbing up ladders and many more to create the 'real' war itself.

IGN: How far along are you on the game right now? Any idea on when it might finally release?

SangYoun Lee: I would say about 40% of development process has been completed. Aiming for 2009 release, we will have the exact release date announcement near the end of this year.